In a distribution system, a retailer or other product distributor (which may collectively be referred to as distributors) typically maintains an inventory of various items at one or more distribution centers, fulfillment centers, cross-docking facilities, materials handling facilities or warehouses (which may collectively be referred to herein as a materials handling facility). The inventory items are ordered from one or more vendors, received at the materials handling facilities as inbound shipments, and stocked in inventory of the materials handling facilities. In an order fulfillment process, orders for items may be received from customers of the distributor. Units of the ordered items are picked from various locations in the inventory in the materials handling facilities, processed for shipping, and shipped as outbound shipments to the customers.
The process of conveying units, such as units of items purchased from a product vendor to replenish inventory, from a receiving stage or another stage to a storage stage (e.g., storing as inventory) is sometimes referred to as stowing. The manner in which items are stowed can affect the operational performance of the materials handling facility. For instance, placing units of a frequently ordered item in an area of the materials handling facility that is not easily accessible may hinder the operational performance of the materials handling facility. For example, the requisite time to fulfill orders including units of such item may increase do to the difficulty in picking such units from inventory. In some cases, the manner in which items are stowed may affect the accuracy of picking operations. For instance, if items are stowed in incorrect locations or stowed with incorrect labels, an agent seeking to pick a given item from inventory may mistakenly pick an incorrectly labeled unit or a unit stored in the wrong location.
While various embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that various embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of various embodiments as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.